Almost Sharp Enough ?

Sat down with wapi #2 yesterday and today.

I got a nice even bevel almost immediately with the 1200DMT and the 4k norton. Not perfect but passes the felt marker test very well.

I switched to the 8k norton and the leather strop.
Then finished last night with a swaty, .5 micron 3m paper , newsprint and the leather strop.

I got a pretty good smooth shave this morning. My technique around my chin, lips is improving (very slowly) but the rest is really quite acceptable (good enough that I haven't been following up with a DE in the last couple of shaves)

I spent a few more hours today with the swaty and the .5 micron paper polishing up the edge. It seems a lot smoother cutting hair on my arm and is getting pretty shiny.

Now my questions:

The swaty is definitely slower cutting than the 8k norton but is it finer? Should I be finishing with the 8k with a lighter touch (I've been finishing with the swaty)?

The leather strop is definitely coarser than the .5 micron paper.
Should I finish with the strop and give the edge "tooth" or finish with the 3M paper and go for "smooth"?

I'm not sure if heavily inked news print is finer or coarser than .5 microns. It certainly works but if you know which if finer I would love to as well?

I have a 12k chinese hone in transit from woodcraft. Will this come before or after the swaty (assuming I should currently be finishing with the swaty which I'm not entirely sure of)?


Thanks,
Bob

I'm sure opinions vary but I think:

The Swaty is finer than 8K

Newspaper is finer than .5

I would put the 12K before the Swaty but that is only because I own both. You could try both but I find the 12K kinda toothy compared to a Swaty, but thats just me. For simplicity I would also recommend using either/or, instead of both. Technically, they should be close to each other in grit, again, my personal experience is different.

I disagree with your assessment that a leather strop is courser than .5.

I would finish on a strop, always. But that is just me.

Ya, what he said!:)

Always finish with the plain leather strop and use that just before shaving, not the nite before.

Don't confuse the "feel" with the "effectiveness".